Internship: Build me a cheap prosthetic arm!

11. September 2017

Description of Work

In the Bionics group, in the framework of intent detection, we try to detect the intentions of a disabled person. Our aim is that of reconstructing the intended configuration of a missing upper-limb (shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand), but we have information the stump only at our disposal. We are interested in detecting intact subjects' intent too, but that is usually quite easy. (Well, not that easy, actually.)

Now, prosthetic hardware is expensive and, so far, surprisingly unreliable and clumsy. So, in order to prove our concepts, we want to quickly build a robotic arm, the cheapest possible, using 3D-printing and commercially available motors. There are a few possibilities already on the Internet. So, are you a 3D-printing and mechatronics freak? Are you really into home robotics? Do you like to build your own toys and then play with them? Then this is the internship for you.

Your task will be that of building a cheap, lightweight, sturdy and low-payload humanoid robotic arm, that we would use to demostrate our control agorithms. Initially, you would follow the specs found on the Net, just for a 2-DOF wrist and hand. Later on, we could go for the elbow and shoulder, and even add something ourselves in order to make it better. As a start, we can count on our good relationship with the BLINC laboratory in Edmonton, Canada - they will act as our consultant if we want. Other possibilities are the InMoov arm and the Open Bionics specs.

Work Breakdown

literature survey the human arm, anatomy and actuation; robotic arms in the world